Gen Y: the most book-loving generation alive?

(Read caption)
It turns out that while everyone was paying attention to the switch from print to electronic books, “a significant shift" – the rise of Gen Y book-buying habits – has been taking place "under the radar.”

So much for Gen Y stereotypes. Turns out they aren’t sun-deprived geeks sitting alone in the basement, with only a controller, joystick, or keyboard, and the final level of Skyrim to keep them company.

There’s a pile of books next to the game console, too.

Believe it or not, Generation Y might just be the most bibliophilic generation alive, according to a new consumer study. Gen Y – those born between 1979 and 1989 – spent the most money on books in 2011, knocking the longtime book-buying leaders, baby boomers, from the top spot, according to the 2012 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Review.

It turns out that while everyone was paying attention to more high-profile, headline-grabbing changes like the switch from print to electronic books, “a significant shift that has been under the radar” was quietly toppling traditional consumer publishing expectations. “With Baby Boomers accounting for the highest percentage of the general population, that age group has historically spent the most on books,” writes the Bowker Market Research panel, which, along with Publishers Weekly, helped conduct the report. “In 2011, however, that changed, when Generation Y… took over the book-buying leadership from Baby Boomers…”

The details, according to the Sacramento Bee’s reporting: baby boomers’ share of book expenditures fell from 30 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2011, while Gen Y’s expenditure grew from 24 percent in 2010 to 30 percent in 2011 – a near-mirror-image swap. Not as surprising, about 43 percent of Gen Y’s purchases are geared toward online book buying, ”adding momentum to the industry shift to digital,” according to the report.